There is no admission that the background art disclosed in this section legally constitutes prior art.
A driving range is a place golfers go to practice their golf shots and typically may include a substantially large parcel of land for the golfers to hit golf balls provided by the driving range operator. The driving range operator must retrieve golf balls hit by the golfers to make them available for reuse by other golfers. To collect the golf balls, range operators use a device called a golf ball range picker that carries usually a pair of metal, open frame wire baskets for receiving the golf balls as the range picker is typically pushed or pulled by a vehicle or manually by personnel, and retrieves the golf balls scattered on the ground and projects them into the baskets carried on board.
Such baskets used with golf ball range pickers for the collection, transportation, and storage of golf balls frequently found at golf driving ranges, have been typically manufactured from metal rods welded or otherwise suitably fixed together, to form a metal wire frame basket construction. Baskets so formed have been made of an open frame construction, wherein interconnected metal rod elements have been spaced from one another to form gaps or openings. The openings are sufficiently small in size to confine the golf balls within the basket. However, they are sufficiently large in size to permit the user to readily perceive the group of golf balls stored within the basket.
While such metal wire baskets have been satisfactory for some applications, they have been susceptible to being damaged by rust, since they are primarily used outdoors. In this regard, the baskets have been exposed to rain, snow, and other weather conditions. As the baskets are made of metal, the weather conditions tend to lead to the formation of rust. Eventually, excessive oxidation can destroy or otherwise render the basket unsuitable for its intended purpose. The integrity of the basket can deteriorate to the point where it becomes useless, and must then be replaced.
Another disadvantage of metal wire baskets is that should the welds be defective, the wire joints can be dislodged. As a result, the basket then looses the structural integrity, and may break apart. Such a basket must then be repaired or probably replaced.
Also, metal wire baskets carried on the golf ball range pickers were not supported securely on the range picker. The front points of support on the basket may be susceptible to bending and failing over time.
Mounting the baskets in a side by side arrangement securely on the range picker has created another problem. The closely spaced baskets would be difficult or awkward to lift manually out of the range picker basket support frame. This would be particularly troublesome when the baskets are heavily loaded with golf balls. When attempting to release the loaded baskets from the range picker basket support frame, a person could inadvertently spill some of the balls out of the basket. At the very least, such baskets would be awkward to lift from the range picker support frame, and thus not very convenient to use.